Steve Dawson SPEAKS!

He finally raises his head above the parapet in a grilling by 7-times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biGTeC- ... hannel=WST

Yes Steve Dawson speaks for half an hour but does he actually say anything concrete?

Same old story of snooker being in a great place with plenty of jam tomorrow.

I switched off after ten minutes. He seems quite introverted, and not exactly comfortable in front of a camera. Probably best to judge him on the actual plight of WST rather than an interview.

I watched it all, very interesting and confident business man, seems authentic to me. I'd be happy for him to be the COO of one of my companies. I'd be confident sh*t would get handled effectively. Has worked for Matchroom for 40 years, knows the sport inside out, and was fully involved in wrestling control from the association when Barry took over.

He is very accessible and says he is happy to pick up the phone to any player and chat things through. As he said, they won't always like his answers, because he will come at it from a commercial angle.

Sure, he doesn't have the pazazz of Barry, but this doesn't mean he can't run this sport properly.

Fans forget that we are only a couple of years out of Covid, and that during that time China disappeared completely, and with it all their prize money. WST did a hell of a job to keep the ship afloat at all.

Classic SI/snooker fans, moan about the tour all the time, don't even bother to watch the new boss being grilled by 7-times. Some of the questions he goes into later are pretty close to the knuckle, Hendo doesn't hold back, and Steve Dawson isn't shy with his answers, and only deflects a couple of times.

I don’t moan about the tour all the time. Find examples of me moaning about the tour and your point might have some veracity. I’ve said nothing to criticise Dawson’s ability. Back up your claim, Dan. If you can’t do that…

It wasn't directed at you. More that this thread has been relatively ignored.

It's worth watching till the end.

No idea what that image is Holden. Guess I don't watch enough TV.

Dan-cat wrote:It wasn't directed at you. More that this thread has been relatively ignored.

It's worth watching till the end.

I’ll give it another go at some point. I don’t think he needs to be particularly charismatic or extroverted to do his job. I was speaking simply in context of this interview - he seemed uncomfortable and a bit meek. He could be a great leader for all I know, which is why I said it might be better to judge him on the future success of the tour rather than how he comes across in an interview.

It’s like jobs. Some people interview really well but they turn out to be incompetent. And others don’t interview well but when it gets down to the proper rubbish they know what they’re doing.

Yeah.... I've definetley fallen into that former group of interviewees before lolz

Dan-cat wrote:Yeah.... I've definetley fallen into that former group of interviewees before lolz

We’ve all been there

Dan-cat wrote:Fans forget that we are only a couple of years out of Covid, and that during that time China disappeared completely, and with it all their prize money. WST did a hell of a job to keep the ship afloat at all.

World Snooker Holdings Limited made a dividend payment of £3.5M to their shareholders (including Stephen Dawson) during 2021.

Watched full interview, Steve comes across as experienced, knowledgeable and confident to me. Some players will always moan and think they no better,reality they haven't a clue what's involved running the company and come across selfish. I think snooker in safe hands for now,when Steve retired and probably Eddie hearn takes over I would expect major changes, mainly pushing cash flow rather than the game.

RunningSide wrote:Watched full interview, Steve comes across as experienced, knowledgeable and confident to me. Some players will always moan and think they no better,reality they haven't a clue what's involved running the company and come across selfish. I think snooker in safe hands for now,when Steve retired and probably Eddie hearn takes over I would expect major changes, mainly pushing cash flow rather than the game.

Exactly what I felt.

Hearn jnr taking over... ugh...he doesn't like snooker, let's hope that doesn't happen.

Prop wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Yeah.... I've definetley fallen into that former group of interviewees before lolz

We’ve all been there

I can talk such a good game

Dan-cat wrote:

RunningSide wrote:Watched full interview, Steve comes across as experienced, knowledgeable and confident to me. Some players will always moan and think they no better,reality they haven't a clue what's involved running the company and come across selfish. I think snooker in safe hands for now,when Steve retired and probably Eddie hearn takes over I would expect major changes, mainly pushing cash flow rather than the game.

Exactly what I felt.

Hearn jnr taking over... ugh...he doesn't like snooker, let's hope that doesn't happen.

I like Eddie, but not sure he's right for snooker and don't think he wants to do it when he's got multi-million quid boxing matches to promote

Dan-cat wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:

RunningSide wrote:Watched full interview, Steve comes across as experienced, knowledgeable and confident to me. Some players will always moan and think they no better,reality they haven't a clue what's involved running the company and come across selfish. I think snooker in safe hands for now,when Steve retired and probably Eddie hearn takes over I would expect major changes, mainly pushing cash flow rather than the game.

Exactly what I felt.

Hearn jnr taking over... ugh...he doesn't like snooker, let's hope that doesn't happen.

I like Eddie, but not sure he's right for snooker and don't think he wants to do it when he's got multi-million quid boxing matches to promote

Saw him golfing and chatting on a YouTube channel, impression he gave was snooker will eventually come to him and although he has no love for the game had some ideas that would improve the image and capabilities of snooker, what ever that means, definitely no fan of crucible.

Dan-cat wrote:No idea what that image is Holden. Guess I don't watch enough TV.

It’s Dawson’s Creek.

gninnur karona wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Fans forget that we are only a couple of years out of Covid, and that during that time China disappeared completely, and with it all their prize money. WST did a hell of a job to keep the ship afloat at all.

World Snooker Holdings Limited made a dividend payment of £3.5M to their shareholders (including Stephen Dawson) during 2021.

Not sure what you are getting at here, Guinnar.

Since Matchroom took over World Snooker (up until 2022):

- Had 194M in revenues
- Paid directors and staff 50M
- Paid players 114M in prizes (of 66M commitment)
- Paid shareholders 8.4M in dividends.

All of which points to a successful, well-run business.

Full breakdown is here: https://medium.com/@edgarmaloverian/wor ... 551d3d2152

Hendry: 'why are most of the sponsors gambling companies?'

Dawson: 'Because they pay the most money.'

Dan-cat wrote:Hendry: 'why are most of the sponsors gambling companies?'

Dawson: 'Because they pay the most money.'

Morality of capitalism in a nutshell.

Iranu wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Hendry: 'why are most of the sponsors gambling companies?'

Dawson: 'Because they pay the most money.'

Morality of capitalism in a nutshell.

Or; more prize money for the players, increased prestige for the tournaments.

Iranu wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Hendry: 'why are most of the sponsors gambling companies?'

Dawson: 'Because they pay the most money.'

Morality of capitalism in a nutshell.

Isn't that kind of the point of getting sponsors though?

SnookerFan wrote:

Iranu wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Hendry: 'why are most of the sponsors gambling companies?'

Dawson: 'Because they pay the most money.'

Morality of capitalism in a nutshell.

Isn't that kind of the point of getting sponsors though?

Under the logic of capitalism. That's the point.

Dan-cat wrote:

Iranu wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:Hendry: 'why are most of the sponsors gambling companies?'

Dawson: 'Because they pay the most money.'

Morality of capitalism in a nutshell.

Or; more prize money for the players, increased prestige for the tournaments.

Or, alternatively, sacrifice a few pounds in the short term to increase variety of sponsors, make the sport seem viable as a sponsorship opportunity for a wider variety of companies going forward, reduce reliance on betting companies that are seemingly always being talked about being banned from advertising, and potentially put snooker in a better financial position long term.

Is any company gonna look at a premium event being sponsored by “MrQ” and think yeah we wanna get in on that action?

For me it depends how much “more” the betting companies offered. And why they are so often the top bidders.

Iranu wrote:
For me it depends how much “more” the betting companies offered. And why they are so often the top bidders.

I can imagine just how valuable and targetted the advertising exposure is for bookies compared to non-betting brands. Are you rushing out to buy a Pukka Pie / second-hand car? No. But you can just pick up your phone and place a bet during a game... instant revenue generator

Dan-cat wrote:

Iranu wrote:
For me it depends how much “more” the betting companies offered. And why they are so often the top bidders.

I can imagine just how valuable and targetted the advertising exposure is for bookies compared to non-betting brands. Are you rushing out to buy a Pukka Pie / second-hand car? No. But you can just pick up your phone and place a bet during a game... instant revenue generator

True, but that applies to advertising in general. Doesn’t stop Mercedes from buying ad space.

I’m not saying they should dismiss betting companies I’d just be curious as to what “they pay more” looks like.

Dan-cat wrote:

Iranu wrote:
For me it depends how much “more” the betting companies offered. And why they are so often the top bidders.

I can imagine just how valuable and targetted the advertising exposure is for bookies compared to non-betting brands. Are you rushing out to buy a Pukka Pie / second-hand car? No. But you can just pick up your phone and place a bet during a game... instant revenue generator

I did actually use cazoo to buy my last car, partly because of the snooker support.

Iranu wrote:

Dan-cat wrote:No idea what that image is Holden. Guess I don't watch enough TV.

It’s Dawson’s Creek.

I believe he said

I don't want to wait for our lives to be over
I want to know right now what will it be
I don't want to wait for our lives to be over
Will it be yes or will it be sorry?